


Maybe it's the Radiation

by lietpol



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Emotional Constipation, F/F, Feelings, Fluff, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 14:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7643359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lietpol/pseuds/lietpol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s like I really have a family,” Holtzmann concluded.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe it's the Radiation

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the movie and my immediate reaction was to write this?? Tumblr: jayandcarlos. Comment are super appreciated bc I want to write more Holtzbert but I don't want them to be OOC, you feel?

“It’s like I really have a family,” Holtzmann concluded.

She was met with the eyes of her three closest friends. Well, only friends. Jillian Holtzmann never considered herself to be a dependent person. However, having Abby, Erin, and Patty around gave her something she’d never truly experienced in her years.

It was an ultimate sense of belonging. Sure, working in the lab with Abby had provided her with much needed human interaction, but this was different. This was deeper. She knew she was right where she belonged with these women and their erratic ways of working.

Abby grinned and held up her glass, toasting Holtzmann back with enthusiasm. “Couldn’t have done _any_ of it without you, Holtz.”

“Yea, Holtzy,” Patty chimed in. “We make a pretty kick-ass team.”

Erin—oh, God, it was always Erin—rose from her chair with her glass in hand. “And a toast to you, Holtzmann, for being the most bad ass, crazy, _amazing_ woman I’ve ever had the experience of working with.”

Jillian didn’t quite understand what it was about Erin that made her want to be as close to this woman as possible. Abby had only told her of the way she abandoned their book to focus on the world outside of the paranormal. She only heard negative stories of Erin.

The brunette was truly something. Granted, when she initially met Erin, Holtzmann hadn’t been too impressed. She was cute, a bit reserved, but she also repressed her curiosity. Jillian firmly believed that curiosity should have no bounds. It could lead people to new trials.

Curiosity was her driving factor. It’s why she spent hours laboring over ways to improve and create new technology and weapons for her team to use. There was a beauty in the science of it all that just couldn’t be properly admired without a scientist’s eye.

The Aldridge mansion was where she was able to pinpoint Erin’s true personality. Somehow, soaked head to toe in projectile ghost vomit, Erin was the most gorgeous thing Jillian had ever seen. She was radiating enthusiasm, curiosity, excitement; it was enticing. It was that moment that she realized she was being dragged into something much deeper.

For once, she didn’t want to try to figure a scientific way around this emotional occurrence. It was easy to let herself be swept up in a current of feelings. Admiration, adoration, hope. These were all new to her, and she couldn’t have been happier to experience them because of someone as lively as Erin.

“Oh, yea!” Holtzmann tapped her glass to Erin’s and finished her drink in record time.

“Maybe it’s the radiation talking, but you seemed to have gotten better looking since coming back from the other side,” she teased. Erin rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“I’ve always been good looking, Holtz. Maybe it just takes me nearly dying for people to notice.”

Patty snorted. “Kevin hasn’t seemed to notice.”

“Yea, well you know,” it felt like Erin was staring holes into Jillian. “it was never really about Kevin, anyway.”

“Is it getting hot in here, or what?” She pulled at the collar of her shirt, suddenly overcome with an inability to draw in deep breaths. Was Erin initiating a challenge? Whatever it was, she knew Holtzmann would bite.

She noticed Abby looking askance at her old friend. “Erin Gilbert—Are you hitting on my lab partner?”

A hint of a smile played at Erin’s lips. “I was your lab partner once, too.”

“Yea, well stay away from this one. She’s too pure for you.”

“Baby, you two are perfect for each other. A sweet combination of bad jokes and a creepy ass love for science,” Patty said.

Holtzmann laughed and sat down. Erin followed her lead.

The rest of their night was spent in easy chatter. One by one, the group dispersed. Somehow, only Erin was left with her.

Before Patty had taken her leave, she sent a wink and a thumbs up.

Holtzmann teased at the straw in her drink, taking it between her teeth and winking at the woman across from her.

“For a while, I was convinced you didn’t like me,” Erin suddenly confessed. Her demeanor was tense, maybe even nervous.

Holtzmann bit down on her straw, eyebrows drawn in confusion. “Why would you think that?”

Erin teased the button of her blouse, avoiding eye contact. “Well, you were such a good friend to Abby. I just assumed you didn’t like me because I was trying to disrupt something important to her.”

“No way, you’ve got it all wrong, dude. I think you’re great—amazing, even.”

She wasn’t completely sure if the flushed tint of Erin’s cheeks were from her words, or from the alcohol she consumed prior. It was reasonable to assume it was a combination of both.

“Sure, at first I was a bit biased. But I had only ever heard negative things from Abby. However, I knew you were different after the Aldridge mansion. Listen to me say this, and listen closely. I’m not an emotional person. I don’t steer my way through life relying on what I feel. It’s all about science.”

Erin looked confused, as if she were unsure where this was heading.

“But something about you makes me want to take a chance and see where my emotions lead me. I get that I’m a little scatter brained, that I may come off as a wild card, but that’s just my personality. I have reasons for every single thing I do. Can I tell you the thing that scares me the most?”

There was a small nod from the woman, encouraging Holtzmann to continue. She could tell Erin was intrigued by the light in her eyes.

“Seeing two of my friends nearly get lost in another dimension. It was only with reason that I stayed grounded and pulled you guys out. I was ready to jump right in there with you, because it scared me.”

A beat of silence passed between them.

“Abby was—is—my best friend. I couldn’t lose her,” Erin whispered.

“I couldn’t lose either of you. I would never be able to cope with it. It would eat me up trying to come up with a viable reason as to why it was my fault.”

“It would never be your fault, Holtz. I jumped in on my own decision.”

“It’s because you follow your emotions,” she responded.

“Well maybe you could show me how to reason” Erin said.

She looked up then, making eye contact with the woman across from her. Erin truly was an enigma that Holtzmann would figure out.

“Maybe.”


End file.
